Ground Control
by bikelock28
Summary: Tuesday 28th May 2013. Barney calls Ted from Belize. Ted explains that Chicago's off, and Barney realises something HUGE. Friendship fluff.


p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"strongTuesday 28/strongstrongth/strongstrongMay 2013. Barney calls Ted from Belize. Ted explains that Chicago's off, and Barney realises something HUGE. Friendship fluff./strong/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"span style="max-height: 999999px; text-decoration: underline;"Ground Control/span/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""Mos-byyy!"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""Oh, hey, Barney. I wasn't expecting you to call,"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""Robin said I shouldn't, but I had to know how my main man Mosby is getting on with the lay-deez of wherever he lives now,"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""Chicago," Ted reminds him./p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""Yeah, that place,"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""Barney, it's been two days. And are you drunk?"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""A little," he concedes, "It's my honeymoon- I'm allowed,"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""Yeah, how emis /emBelize?"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""Awesome. The beach, the sea, the animals, the-"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""So you haven't left your hotel room?"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""Not once," Barney confirms, without missing beat./p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""Ha, I guess that means you're enjoying yourselves then,"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""More than you could imagine, Teddy Boy. emLiterally./em Anyway, what's it like in that sucky place you live now which isn't New York?"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""emChicago," /emTed says again, "And, um, I'm not there,"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""I told you your hair doesn't look as you think it does in the wind,"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""Shut up. And, err, that's not why I'm not there," Ted admits shiftily./p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""Then how come?"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""I met a girl,"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""Oh, for Pete's sake," Barney groans, rolling his eyes./p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""It was the bass player you wanted me to talk to on Sunday night," Ted deadpans./p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""See! I emtold/em you!" Barney shouts, changing his mind quickly, "You nailed her yet?"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""No, but I emdid /emask her out. We're going to dinner tomorrow night,"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""Staying in New York for a girl you just met? Classic Schmosby!"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""You emwanted/em me to meet her, remember?" Ted reminds him, "You said she was perfect for me!"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""So what happened?" Barney asks, ignoring him, "Briefly though, please- I've got a wife I should be banging right now. I don't need one of your stupidly long stories,"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""You're the one who called emme/em!" Ted protests, "And emyou/em can't talk about long stories; the Three Days Rule went on forever! Like all your fake history lessons,"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""Ted, since the dawn of time-"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""Okay, okay, fine," he interrupts, "I went to the station and Tracy got out of a cab, and the old lady I was sitting next to persuaded me to go and say hi. And it's the craziest thing, Barney; remember the St Patrick's Day when we-"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""Oh my God!"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""What? I was keeping it short!"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""Heh, yours is short enough already, Ted. But- oh my God- you met her at the emtrain station/em?"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""Yeah,"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""Right after you left the reception?"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""Obviously. What's your point?"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""So, what were you wearing when this happened?"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""I was wearing-" then he realises, "Oh, for God's sake,"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""Yes! emYes!/emOoh,say it, Ted, say it!"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""If this is what I think it is, I'll never hear the end of it,"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""No, sir, you will emnot/em,"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""I don't want to say it," Ted whines./p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""You met this girl, this lovely girl who you're going on a date with tomorrow- and when you met this girl, Ted, what attire were you wearing?" Barney beams, enjoying the build-up./p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""God, I hate you….I was wearing a suit,"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""Ha-haaa! Ted met a girl when he was Suited Up! It's what I've been saying for years!" Barney trills, overjoyed./p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""Barney-"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""We all know that Robin and me took way too long to get together- but I was pissed about that because we wasted time. Now I realise that we should have got married ages ago so you could Suit Up and not be looking like a trash collector when you met a hot girl. emAnd /ema girlemI/em said you should go talk to! Ha!"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""You're never going to let this go," sighs Ted, resigned to his fate./p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""That's why she's going out with you tomorrow, you know; cos you were Suited Up,"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""Actually, we talked and we got-"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""Ted-got-a-girl! Cos-he-was-Suit-ed Up! Ted-got-a-girl! Cos-he-was-Suit-ed-Up!" Barney chants over Ted's explanation./p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""Oh my God," Ted groans./p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""Hey, Ted?"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""What?"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""What's Lesson One?"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""What?"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""When we first met, what was my first lesson?"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""You remember that but you don't remember licking the Liberty Bell?"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""emWhat was Lesson One?"/em/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"em"/emI don't know. Start going to the gym more, or something," Ted guesses./p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""That was lesson six! Lesson One was lose the goatee because it doesn't go with your suit, because Lesson Two was Suit Up!"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""What's your point?" he mutters./p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""That I did it! I taught you how to live! I, Barney Stinson, taught you, Ted Mosby, how to live, despite how unbelievably lame you were. Ha-emhaa/em!"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""Oh, you taught me how to live? Barney, you're on emhoneymoon./em With your wife, in a committed monogamous relationship," Ted points out smugly, "I think that proves emI'm/em the one who did the teaching,"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"He has a point, but Barney avoids admitting that and goes back to shouting victoriously, "Ted-got-a-girl! Cos-he-was-Suit-ed-Up! Ted-got-a-girl! Cos-he-was-"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""Listen, buddy, I'm gonna go. Say hi to Robin for me,"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""What? Oh, sure,"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""Enjoy the rest of your honeymoon. If you two ever get tired of screwing each other, there's some great Mayan pyra-"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""I really don't think Robin and me need your history classes," Barney scoffs, "Good luck on your date tomorrow,"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""Thanks. I'm looking forward to it,"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""Oh, and now you're on a hundred percent success rate with this girl when you're wearing a suit, d' you mind if I give you one piece of advice?"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"Ted sighs, "I know what it's going to-"/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;""Tomorrow night, Ted Mosby- Suit Up!/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"strongFin./strong/p  
p style="max-height: 999999px; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Arial; font-size: 13px;"strongThanks for reading, hope you enjoyed this li'l bit o' fluff. Please review! xx/strong/p 


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